I don’t know why so many companies decide to use Windows these days when there’s Unix/Linux But it seems like a lot of companies still choose to use Windows over anything else. It runs like crap, and the latest version, Windows 11, is shockingly bad. There are so many frustrating things that come standard with Windows 11 that have no place in a business context. For example, Microsoft shopping. This comes loaded on your Windows 11 browser, edge. I couldn’t find a way to turn it off, so it’s just there. Why in the world would I need that on my work computer? Also, Microsoft start news or MSN is heavily embedded into the edge browser. Lots of trackers and personalization features which again, should not be included in a business computer. It tracks every website I go to, recommends ads and personalizations to me, I can’t download any other browser because this is the standard one that comes on the computer
The operating system itself is also incredibly frustrating. There’s a context menu when you right click things that you cannot get rid of because your company sets policy, and now you have to have a stupid show more options menu every time you click something, so try and imagine a few hundred to a few thousand clicks a day having to navigate with that, very frustrating. Also, Windows start menu search. You can disable it on a personal PC but on a business computer without admin rights, You can’t disable the start menu web search. So it searches the web anytime you type anything in and makes it extremely difficult to find your files… Everything requires a workaround. Turning off copilot, turning off context menu, turning off web search, turning off user account control which is not possible on business PC but on personal PC it is, still really frustrating though. Turning off copilot, turning off Cortana, getting rid of the search box on your taskbar.
Like, I don’t know why any serious company would use Windows with this in mind
Because it’s “easier” to support Windows from a business perspective and it’s easier on users to use Windows as most already do use it and thus need no additional training/decreases support tickets.
I’m a small business environment it’s much easier to manage with Linux but you still need an OK Linux admin on staff.
Once you start scaling up on paper Linux certainly works but there are a lot of factors that most people (such as yourself) don’t consider.
This is coming from a pure Linux admin working on a mixed Enterprise environment where 99% of the infra is windows
The benefit of Windows is the vast amount of ready made tooling, primarily Intune these days. I don’t think Linux has anything equivalent.
There is plenty of tooling for Linux to accomplish most if not all of the same goals but in my experience the difference between the two is the the windows tooling is much “friendlier” and for better or worse easier to get off the ground than a Linux equivalent.
Going the Linux route can and will work but it practically requires you have a a very good admin running the show who truly understands the infrastructure you are working with. I love Linux and greatly prefer working with it over Windows is basically every capacity but I’m not about to go my director and try to convince him we should switch from Windows to Linux as that conversion would be an immense undertaking and I am realistically the only person on staff capable of managing it.
Additional given so many other businesses/partners are also Windows based shops it very often just makes things easier when everyone is playing on the same or very similar field.
The equivalent of Intune for Linux would be… Intune.
Though you’re still having to do a lot more work on the implementation side for it, and a lot of IT teams isn’t going to want to deal with it for the two people that actually want Linux, out of the 10,000 employees they’re otherwise managing.
Yep, that’s the same issue with Mac. When you have a single Business Unit that wants Macs, they have to make a big sell to IT to get it. It’s got to make a massive difference to their productivity for IT to absorb the extra effort for them.
Then when you return the costs to the BU they complain they have to pay more for IT than other BUs. Well, yea, you take more effort than everyone else who fit the standard model. Uniqueness ain’t cheap.
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It’s more compatible with almost every software.
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Most companies that run windows also use things on the Microsoft stack like MS Teams, MS Office, etc. These don’t have proper alternatives for Linux.
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It’s familiar for everyone working in the company.
I don’t know what company you’re in but imagine how bad the average person is in using a computer. Asking people to use Linux is a no-go.
But modern Linux is easier to use than modern windows, so that last point doesn’t really work.
Modern Linux runs just about any windows app, including most games. It also supports web browsers which can access Teams, etc.
It seems like maybe the reason is more inertial than based on factors a well run business should consider.
Because all of what you’ve listed is easily managed at an enterprise level. It sounds like your Windows admins are lazy, or you have executives that actually like those shitty features. I’ve seen that happen before too.
None of what you’ve listed besides start menu web search is enabled at my workplace.
I’ll agree 1000% that a lot of those settings don’t need to be locked behind admin rights though, and there should be an easier way for enterprise admins to leave more of these settings up to their end-users.
This is a post by a person who has no experience whatsoever of managing enterprise IT. Businesses use Windows because of Active Directory, and InTune, and MS 365. The client-side OS itself, and its horrible usability problems, are irrelevant.
It’s usability issues in Enterprise (or just using Windows Pro on a domain with proper management) aren’t the same as Windows Home.
And if OP thinks Windows has usability issues in business, let’s see what happens when we replace 1000 Windows desktops with a random flavor of Linux.
I don’t know why so many companies decide to use Windows these days when there’s Unix/Linux
None of our end users know how to use Unix/Linux… MacOS or Chrome books would be more likely looking at the youngest in the work force.
Everything else you listed basically comes down to end user / power user preferences. 99% of our end users barely remember what to click on if it is not on their desktop.
Like, I don’t know why any serious company would use Windows with this in mind
Being able to mass configure, secure and monitor all devices with many different vendor tools remotely is nice. Have you ever tried to manage a fleet of Linux laptops in the field?
